The fight for gender equality in Australia’s Orthodox community

GABRIELLE BRINER looks at the battle taking place for gender equality within a community dominated by the Orthodox stream

A SCANDAL AT A leading Jewish organization in Melbourne has once again thrust the issue of equal gender representation in the top levels of Australia’s Jewish community into the spotlight – an aspiration that female community members have been working tirelessly to achieve for years.

Last December, Keren Zelwer was a leading candidate to join the executive of community organization Mizrachi Australia. In a secret ballot, however, she was unanimously rejected by the executive members, all of whom were male.

The decision created a strong public backlash. Local Jewish community organizations, including NCJWA (Vic), a separate arm of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia that operates independently in Victoria, slammed Mizrachi Australia (the umbrella body for religious-Zionist Jewry in Australia).

“The challenges at Mizrachi have been a stark reminder that change is slow,” NCJWA (Vic) advocacy committee Chairwoman Romy Grace tells Haaretz.

Outgoing president of Mizrachi Australia, Danny Lamm, says in response that the media had misrepresented the issue and that Mizrachi has “never had a gender equality problem.”

Lamm resigned last month after the scandal, yet is keen to point out that Mizrachi’s newly appointed executive contains one female member and five female members serving on the committee one rung below – one more female committee member than last year. Seventeen men fill the remaining executive and committee positions.

FULL STORY In Australia's Jewish community, drama over fight for gender equality (Haaretz)

Photo: A recent gathering of the newly formed local branch of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance in Melbourne (JOFA)